This blog provides delicious,traditional, vegetarian, South Indian Recipes from my mother Chitra Amma's kitchen. There are few 'world recipes' as well!
Thanks to Shravan, Pranav, Akash, Tara, Guggs, Shankari, Adu, Dhrithi, and Appa Ramachandran for the photos!

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Saturday, August 6, 2011

Indian festivals are not complete without the preparation and distribution of a number of prasaadams. Delicious dishes which are prepared with great care and devotion are first offered to the deity and then savoured as prasaadams. When it is not possible to prepare all the customary dishes , a paayasam and vadai are enough to add grandeur and cheer to the festival.

Ulutham Vadai, Milagu Vadai, Aama vadai, Ravai vadai,Thair vadai are some of the vadai varieties which can be prepared for Varamahalakshmi pooja.

One of my favourite vadais is Urulaikizhangu vadai . I learnt to make this vadai from the famous cookery book titled 'Samaithu Paar' ( Cook And See ) written by the culinary legend Meenakshi Ammal. This book was one of the precious gifts I carried with me as a young bride to my new home.

INGREDIENTS

Split black gram dal - 1 cup

Rice - 1 heaped tbsp

Grated patatoes - 1 cup

Ginger - 1'' piece

Green chillies - 2

Crushed black pepper - 1/2 tsp

Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp

Chopped curry leaves - 1 tbsp

Salt - 1/2 tsp

Oil - For frying

METHOD

1. Wash and soak blackgram dal and rice together for half an hour.

2. Grind the soaked dal and rice with salt, ginger and green chillies into a thick and slightly coarse or smooth paste.

3. Mix in crushed pepper , cumin seeds and chopped curry leaves.

4. Peel and grate raw potato and mix the gratings with the vadai dough.

5. Heat oil in a frying pan.

6. Drop a pinch of the vadai dough into the hot oil. If the batter rises immediately the temperature is perfect for frying the vadais.

7. Wet your hands in cold water and flatten a ball of batter on your palm.

8. Make a hole in the center using your forefinger and gently drop the vadai into the hot oil.

9. Make four or five vadais after dipping your hands in cold water each time and drop them into the hot oil .

10. Decrease flame and let the vadais cook undisturbed.

11. When the vadais become firm and start to change colour , flip them and cook on the other side.

12. Increase heat and fry the urulaikizhangu vadais till they become crisp and golden in colour.

13. When done remove from oil using a perforated ladle and drain them on a paper towel.

Offer the delicious crispy golden urulaikizhangu vadais to Varamahalakshmi and savour the prasaadam.

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Hello

Welcome to Chitra Amma's Kitchen.

I am Dibs. I am a born Foodie. I love to cook; love to eat; love to feed folks who appreciate good food. Blogging provides me a great way of documenting my mother, Chitra’s recipes, as a ready reference irrespective which time zone I live in. Amma honestly makes the best food I've ever had, and somehow, the anecdotes she tells us, make the dishes taste all the better.Most posts here are written by my mother Chitra. It’s her recipes, along with related reminiscences of people, places and anecdotes. She writes, I post!What started for a lark, has now become a serious hobby, drawing in participation from the whole family. My father, S.R. Ramachandran has started clicking away every dish made at home! Aunts, cousins, siblings, contribute to photos, and ask for recipes.We try to illustrate implements such as utensils, grinding stones and so on from the ‘pre-electric-mixer’ days wherever possible. We hope this will make an interesting read for future generations, on how food was cooked in earlier times!The site is still in its infancy, and slowly evolving, as our skills improve! We invite your comments, ideas, and questions, and will attempt answering them.

Thank you for your visit, and we hope you enjoy your stay at Chitra Amma’s Kitchen.